, 1887-05-18
ABDUL FALSE HAIR.
where 1t comes From and How It IL
Obtained.

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where 1t comes From and How It 10
Obtained.
Nearly all tho fai2' hair t,ct Is sold
In tli3 country" sail q hair dealer to a
repoI~ r ~r,cC2tly, sis broucht from
France and Germany. 1t il obtai..-l in
those countries from tho peasant girls.
The Berlin md Paris merchants send
thai: agents out through the country dis
tries. end whenever one of tbcae r-cHt5
meets q lacs with a fine crop Of lar lie
Immediately begins to bargain with her.
AS a rule the peasants know 50 little of
the world, and are SO utterly ignorant Of
tn" value Of things, that they generally
sell their hair at the most r~idiculously
lo~ prices. 1t is nothing to
see a lrc2ch peasant girl dispose of the
most magnificent suit of hair, u suit that
80 could sell for S75, for a worthless err
ring or Il string of bright looking beads.
II these merchants meet a girl ON the
road whose hair attracts them they never
give the poor girl time to think, or OPP
P~ortunity TO go home and consult her
parents. but the moment she says yes,
out come their shears and off goes her
magnificent hair, and the poor child's
only return is a worthless trinket. 1t
seanga sad, but such is life-at least, hair
merchant life.
After the hair has been all collected
and brought into Paris and Berlin it is
then put through a cleaning process and
assorted and arranged. On all hair, as it
comes from the head, there is, no matter
how clean q person tries to keep her or
himself, more or less dandruff. The hair
is passed through a sort of wire net or
chain, the wires of which are so close to-
gether that the hairs themselves can
scarcely pass through. You would think
this would cut the hair, but it does not.
1t only gets the dirt off, and it does SO
most effectually. After the hair is thus
thoroughly cleaned it is assorted in proper
colors, qualities and lengths. Then the
black hair IS again run over, and three
more piles or heaps are made of 1.-THE
long black hairs, the medium end the
short. The light hair is similarly as
sorted. Then the dealers mix the black
and light hair together and make from
them different shades. By mixing a Jet
black, for instance, with a color two
shades lighter than jet black you get a
color exactly n shade lighter, and this
is the rule all through the different COM
binations of hair colors. A color mixed
with another color that is two shades
lighter than itself will produce a color
n shade lighter, and a shade that ap-
pears to be perfectly natural. If the
hair is mixed with a color that is more
than two shades it will produce a streaky
combination, which is, of course, to be
avoided; but when the mixing is prop
erlv done not ever an expert can tell the
difference between tbs real color and the
color that is the result of this skillful
manipulation.
The French are the most expert hair
mixers in the world, and many a blonde
or brown suit of hair that looks SO per-
fectly natural is, in reality, the product
of two different heads and is the result of
the ingenious French hair mixers. What
does a head of hair cost? Well, of course,
there is in hair, as in everything else, an
immense variety of kinds, and conse-
quently an immense variety of prices.
Heads of hair can be bought as low as
$15, and there are many that bring S75.
For this latter price l should say that the
very best suit of hair that can be found
III Boston can be purchased. 1t does not
cost a woman, or, l should probably say
in order to keep in the fashion, a Mrs.
Lady, as much to purchase her ha.r
now as it did three or four years ago.
The Mrs. Ladies do not wear near so
much hair now as they did then. as any
one, even a Mr.. Gentleman, can see by
glancing at one of their heads. Conse-
sequently, while it formerly cost a fash
ionable female from 500 to $3.50 to per-
fectly adorn her head, supposing, of
course, that she had no hair at all to
start with, the same female can now buy
the very best head gear in Boston at from
$50 to $75. Is there much false hair
worn in Boston? Oh, an immense deal
of it. 1 indulge in no exaggeration when
l say that there are not five women in
100 who do not wear some false hair. -
Dnntnn unrnll